Don’t be all thumbs!

The wrong thumb position may cause you to bleed all over the shooting range. We don’t recommend it. I can share this new-shooter tip from a vantage point of, ummm, let’s call it personal experience.

Remember Ghostbusters? And how it’s really bad to cross the streams of the Proton Pack particle accelerators? Well there’s a similar rule of thumb (pun fully intended) for shooting semi-automatic pistols. Don’t cross your thumbs as in the picture above.

Sooner or later, that thing called a slide is going zoom backwards at Warp 17 and slice the dickens out of the webby, sensitive skin between your thumb and your index finger.

If you want to splatter copious amounts of blood around the range, feel free, but once is enough for me. Every single time I go to the range, I see new shooters crossing their thumbs while shooting a semi-automatic pistol.

It’s a mini-tragedy waiting to happen!

Fortunately there’s an easy way to avoid bleeding all over your range. Don’t cross the streams. Point both thumbs forward and keep them on the weak hand side of your handgun. Your hand, and your local drug store, will thank you.

Revolvers present an exception. Since a revolver has no slide that zooms backwards, you don’t have to worry about getting cut. In fact, many revolver shooters prefer to cross their thumbs. If you shoot a single-action revolver, that support hand thumb may be used to cock the hammer between shots.

Bottom line? Think about that grip. Because bleeding all over the range is embarrassing.

2 thoughts on “Shooting Tip: Don’t Be All Thumbs”

Been there, done that, got the scar. My SR9c didn’t get the webby part, but rather the top of my knuckle when I was trying the gun left handed for the first time. So used to the right hand thumb going on the left side of the frame, it just went there… once.